Never mind that it’s Halloween…

October 31st, 2014

… the scariest thing we’re actually facing right now is the imminent spreading of salt on our roads. Despite the unusually warm weather we’ve recently been experiencing, it won’t be long now until overnight temperatures drop below freezing and local authority gritters make an appearance. Over the years we’ve posted a number of articles about the issues posed by road salt and the need for car care enthusiasts to protect their cars against it, so hopefully the message has sunk in and you’ve already completed your winter protection detail. If not, all is not lost; there’s still enough time to get it done (due to a recent family wedding in Cyprus we’ve not done our own cars yet; guess what we’re going to be doing over the next two weekends!). If you’d like a recap on why road salt is so bad for your car, please take a few minutes to read the following article…

The background information and maintenance advice presented in the above article remains valid today, but some of the product recommendations we made are now out of date (reflecting the evolution of the car care market in recent years). We posted a revised list of product recommendations around this time last year, which remain current and up to date, but another pair of the synthetic-based kits we stock also make ideal choices for winter protection, so what follows below is a guide to these, including an explanation of why we’ve chosen them, plus maintenance advice. Our aim is to enable you to quickly identify which of these kits is right for you and encourage you to make the time to get your car properly protected before the weather finally turns and the salt goes down. With a special offer running this weekend, now is the time to act!

The Auto Finesse Tough Kit has become very popular in recent years and just so happens to be an ideal system for winter protection too. The reasons for this are simple. Firstly, it’s very simple and straightforward to use, and is undemanding in terms of where it can be applied; unlike natural wax-based systems it can be used outside with ease in cooler temperatures, and it doesn’t need to be kept under cover while it cures. Secondly, it’s really easy to maintain during the winter months, either by using the Tough Coat component as a quick detailer, or by topping up the treated surfaces with a post-wash maintenance spray, such as GYEON Q2M WETCOAT. Thirdly, it doesn’t compromise on aesthetics, as it delivers a superb finish on all colours. The above points combine to make the Auto Finesse Tough Kit an ideal choice of winter protection for enthusiasts who don’t have access to an indoor workspace, and/or those looking to keep their winter preparation detail and subsequent maintenance routine as quick and easy as possible.

To maintain the resulting finish through the winter months you should do as follows. Firstly, foam your car on a weekly basis with Auto Finesse Avalanche and rinse it off with pure water obtained using an Aqua Gleam De-Ionising Water Filter. This will enable you to remove the majority of the salt and grime without having to physically touch the bodywork or spend hours out in the cold each week washing it by hand. Secondly, you should hand wash it once a month (after foaming with Avalanche first) using Auto Finesse Lather, so as to ensure that all of the salt and grime is periodically removed. After doing this and rinsing off, top up the protective finish on all of the exterior surfaces with WETCOAT before rinsing off thoroughly again. This latter product really is incredible, and will blow your mind in terms of how much fresh protection it lays down. This routine will keep your car looking good (and beading water strongly) right through to the spring, at which point a full decontamination treatment will be needed again to remove fresh contaminants.

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1. Wolf’s Chemicals Nano Coating Kit (a great option if you have access to an indoor workspace)

The Wolf’s Chemicals Nano Coating Kit is a hybrid nanotechnology system that protects and beautifies car bodywork. It works by laying down nano-scale silica components and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to form a hard glass-like coating. This coating is water hating (hydrophobic), which causes rainfall to bead up and roll off very quickly. This extreme beading not only looks good, but also picks up and carries away fresh dirt and grime, which results in treated surfaces staying cleaner for longer in between routine washes. Furthermore, this coating is also extremely durable and highly resistant to chemicals, which means that detergent-based cleaners (such as snow foams and shampoos) do little to degrade it over time. However, these benefits come at a price. Compared to normal sealant-based systems, the Wolf’s Chemicals Nano Coating Kit is more time consuming to apply, and it also demands the use of an indoor workspace, both for the application process itself and a subsequent 24 hour curing period during which the car must not be exposed to the elements under any circumstances. The above points combine to make the Wolf’s Chemicals Nano Coating Kit an ideal choice of winter protection for enthusiasts who have access to an indoor workspace, and for those who don’t mind investing more time in the application process in order to obtain maximum performance and durability.

To maintain the resulting finish through the winter months you should do as follows. Firstly, foam your car on a weekly basis with Auto Finesse Avalanche and rinse it off with pure water obtained using an Aqua Gleam De-Ionising Water Filter. This will enable you to remove the majority of the salt and grime without having to physically touch the bodywork or spend hours out in the cold each week washing it by hand. Secondly, you should hand wash it once a month (after foaming with Avalanche first) using GYEON Q2M BATHE, so as to ensure that all of the salt and grime is periodically removed. After doing this and rinsing off, top up the protective finish on all of the exterior surfaces with GYEON Q2M WETCOAT before rinsing off thoroughly again. This latter product really is superb, and will blow your mind in terms of how much fresh protection it lays down. This routine will keep your car looking good (and beading water extremely) right through to the spring, at which point a full decontamination treatment will be needed again to remove bonded surface contaminants. However, this process will not remove the coating; all you will need to do is top it up again with the Nano QD component and your car will then be ready for the summer.

2 Responses to “Never mind that it’s Halloween…”

Our official line on this is that it’s not a good idea, as technically you’d be layering a synthetic sealant on top of a natural wax, which is a breach of one of the golden rules of detailing (waxes bond to sealants, but sealants struggle to bond to waxes, so you should always seal first and wax last, never the other way around). However, based on what we’ve been reading on social platforms, plenty of folk appear to be using it over waxes without any issues – whether or not you want to risk giving it a go is up to you (the worst case scenarios are (i) it fails to bond at all, or (ii) it bonds unevenly, leaving a streaky looking finish – if the latter happened you’d need to strip everything and start over).